Wes Streeting has indicated he would be prepared to trigger a Labour leadership contest to replace Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister as early as next week, because nothing says 'decisive leadership' like a hastily scheduled internal power struggle.
The former health secretary told BBC Newsnight that the 'uncertainty and paralysis' in the Labour leadership would need to be resolved if the party wins Thursday's Makerfield by-election - a victory that would allow Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to return to Parliament and potentially join the fray.
Both Streeting and Burnham have previously been coy about whether they'd actually start a contest, but now they're both claiming they'd stand, because nothing says 'party unity' like a two-way race for the top job.
Streeting claimed he has the backing of the 81 Labour MPs needed to launch a challenge, and he's already sketching out the battleground with a 'battle of ideas' over the party's future direction. He warned against treating bond markets as 'Bond villains' - a dig at Burnham's earlier comments about not being 'in hock to the bond markets' - and insisted any leadership contest must not become a race of who can offer the most expensive pledges to the party faithful.
In a speech emphasizing fiscal discipline, Streeting cited former chancellors Gordon Brown and Nigel Lawson, leading some in the room to wonder if he was subtly auditioning for chancellor if he comes in second. But he insists he can win the top job by convincing Labour members he can win a general election and unite the centre with the left.
Streeting also suggested Energy Secretary Ed Miliband should approve North Sea oil and gas drilling projects in Rosebank and Jackdaw, arguing there's a 'pragmatic case for producing our own gas rather than importing from abroad' - a position that would surely delight Miliband, who once described a Rosebank licence as 'climate vandalism'.
Sir Keir Starmer, meanwhile, reiterated his intention 'not to walk away' but to 'carry on with what I was elected to do' - presumably while everyone else debates who should replace him.